can-am 4 wheeler for the farm.

[browny]

am looking to replace the honda atv farm bike with a can-am.theyre pretty new to nz as a farm workhorse and largly unproven so would be interested to hear from anyone who has one on the farm,just to see if they were happy with it or not.

[shafty]

I'll watch with interest too Browny

[TimeOut]

We had a field day here last month.
The 800 was fun to ride, power wheelies no problem but I think you'd end up in hospital just too much power.
Overall they compared very well, I'm considering one for our next change, do like the 3 year warrantry.

Interested to here what some owners have to say!

[NZsarge]

Heard reasonably good rumours but that's it... If you're looking at Can Am's what about Polaris, they make awesome four wheelers. Had one on the farm here for about a week but handed it back, being a 400cc two smoker it drank fuel like you would'nt believe! Most of them are fourstrokes now and I think the fuel consumption issue is much less of an issue. Awesome suspension on them!

[banditrider]

A mate is on his 2nd one. The first was second hand and a bit tired. I rode it (haven't ridden the new one). Liked the CVT trans, always seemed to have plenty of urge when you needed it and also good engine braking which was a bit of a surprise. Was a fair bit bigger than other quads I've ridden but handled ok on the farm.

Not an expert on quads though so couldn't compare to much else (esp the new stuff) except another mate's old 350 Suzy...

[7mmWSM]

Why would you want to change from a honda?

1. They're the #1 ATV on the NZ market
2. 2 year warranty that will cover 95% of items including clutch, wheel bearings, knuckles, electrics - about the only bits not covered are brake pads and light bulbs.
3. resale - 2nd hand honda a still worth good money.
4 Simple ridgid rear axel - Stable, better for towing, less parts to wear or break.
Can-am - small NZ player. Could be hard to get parts at a later date.

I could keep going...

[browny]

yes all good points.we still have two other hondas onthe property and have had agood run out of them.the can am at its current price is cheaper and with a 3yr warranty is pretty hard to go past.the biggest honda we have is a500 which,on this hilly land,is only just big enough with a trailer on behind and we've already had trans trouble before with the 500,still under warranty. they tell us parts are easily available,aday or two ex oz. we've just bought a can am 650 so it will be interesting. thanks for your comments

[7mmWSM]

yes all good points.we still have two other hondas onthe property and have had agood run out of them.the can am at its current price is cheaper and with a 3yr warranty is pretty hard to go past.the biggest honda we have is a500 which,on this hilly land,is only just big enough with a trailer on behind and we've already had trans trouble before with the 500,still under warranty. they tell us parts are easily available,aday or two ex oz. we've just bought a can am 650 so it will be interesting. thanks for your comments

The 2009 500FM has an updated gearbox. Any problems with the earlier 500FM's will get this gearbox.
Another point is why change if your've had a good run? You could have looked at the TRX680 if you wanted more power.

[zeRax]

we had 15 honda quads at my old work which i had to service amoung my other duties, played with a couple can ams, so much better.

polaris are shit to work on imo too

can ams to me seem to be far better. better tech, higher towing, speed grunt, stability with its suspension, was hunting down ruts and cutting across them, simple layout and easy to work on, just my opinion, i was highly impressed by them :o

[browny]

yep we were well impressed with it.stability is better than the hondas and theyre pretty good and thats a big plus round here where tipping is constant threat.as to your reply 7mmwsm about the trx680,cost plain and simple.the can -am is only bout 15k and honda replacement was closer to 18k infact it may have more than that.and besides that weve been honda here for ever, it doesnt mean theyre the best so no harm in looking around.

[Chooky]

If its horsepower you want, have a look at this....:cool:


http://www.autoblog.com/2009/08/11/lazareth-creates-a-500-horsepower-e85-powered-quad-w-video/

[browny]

lol nice, put some mud tryes on it and we'd be away.dogs would love geting on the back of that.might have trouble talking the ol boy round tho.

[TimeOut]

yes all good points.we still have two other hondas onthe property and have had agood run out of them.the can am at its current price is cheaper and with a 3yr warranty is pretty hard to go past.the biggest honda we have is a500 which,on this hilly land,is only just big enough with a trailer on behind and we've already had trans trouble before with the 500,still under warranty. they tell us parts are easily available,aday or two ex oz. we've just bought a can am 650 so it will be interesting. thanks for your comments

It's the 650 I'm looking at, let us know what you think.

Currently with Suzuki 500 pretty good run out of it.
Previously Honda's but the last two were crap (450&500) Not only Trans (500) both needed two sets of rings before 15,000k's and the 500 a rebore, also the steering/suspension seemed unstable in ruts and the hills.

[browny]

yea we had to do rings on our 500 as well,warranty job also had rattle that only we could hear. it went to gore and came back they said didnt know what noise was couple of months later oil pump shat,wrecked trans and top end so hav got 4k bill for that now.its still away.but will let you know if we like 650 can am

[TimeOut]

thanks for that I wait with baited breath.

When we we having trans problems they wouldn't believe us either (states that is), they ended up sending a complete bike back to the States before it was sorted.

As for resale of the Honda's I'm having trouble getting anyone (except Honda) to give me a trade in offer on the 450!:doh:

[7mmWSM]

Sounds like alot of your problems stem from the dealer your dealing with - poor service and not following up on things.

The 680 currently retails for $16,873 Inc

[browny]

we are already committed to the can am but interesting bout price on trx. we were quoted more, that said i think it was on another 500 but we were to assume the bigger the cc's the more we'd be paying.the gore dealer ship has agood reputation im told, and weve always had good service from them but their misdiagnosis on this bike may cost them another sale if we like the new toy.